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Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Suspend Enguerra: Byron
The provincial jail management wants a police official suspended for allegedly tampering with evidence of last week’s shooting, where bullets hit the cell of Simon Lao, the star witness of a shabu laboratory case.
Security consultant Byron Garcia wants to know why Chief Insp. Juanito Enguerra of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) broke the police line without members of the Scene of the Crime Operation (Soco) team present.
Garcia said it’s a misrepresentation when Enguerra told jail personnel he and his men were crime scene investigators.
‘Idiot’
“Col. (Vicente) Loot was sending an idiot to investigate the matter. (Enguerra) is an idiot with regard to firearms. He forgot about the maximum effective range of firearms,” he said.
Loot, acting CPPO director, said he doesn’t have basis yet to suspend Enguerra until he gets a copy of the official request from Garcia.
Loot said it was he who ordered Enguerra to investigate the incident at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC). Enguerra heads CPPO’s intelligence and investigation unit.
“I directed him to conduct an investigation, the result of which I adopted. But for him to destroy the crime scene, I don’t think so,” Loot said.
Enguerra, in a separate interview, said it’s up to Loot to decide on his fate.
Enguerra also stood firm on his earlier findings that guards chasing a mad dog fired the shots, hitting Lao’s cell and the gutter.
Byron insisted the shooting incident was a failed attempt to kill Lao hatched by alleged shabu laboratory financier Calvin de Jesus Tan and rebel detainees.
Yesterday, Garcia and his men started establishing the trajectory and origin of the bullets. They said the gunman must be standing on a hill right across Lao’s cell.
They also recovered a slug believed to be that of a .45 handgun.
Garcia refuted Engue-rra’s statement that the bullets that hit the CPDRC came from the guards of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) who were pursuing the mad dog.
He said the CPDRC and BBRC compounds are about 200 meters apart and the effective range of a .45 handgun can’t be more than 100 meters.
Also, the BBRC guards admitted using a .9mm gun. The effective range of a .9mm gun is also not more than 100 meters, Garcia said.
Garcia said he contacted Soco chief Myrna Areola after learning that Enguerra broke into the crime scene without a Soco representative. Areola told Garcia she was surprised why CPPO did not ask for their assistance.
A Soco team was still sent to CPDRC after Enguerra and his men checked the crime scene.
Initial
CPDRC jail warden Alfredo Abella will be the one to file a complaint against Enguerra and ask for his suspension.
Loot clarified that the report submitted by Enguerra was only “initial,” because there were other factors that Enguerra’s team needed to look into. Among these was the difference between the time of the shooting and the time the dog was chased.
The dog was chased reportedly at 10 p.m., while the alleged attempt on Lao’s life reported happened at past 11:50 p.m.
For his part, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Chief Amado Marquez doesn’t think the bullets that hit Lao’s cell were meant for a mad dog.
Marquez believes the incident had to do with reports that Tan would be rescued by rebels. But for him, the CPDRC is still the safest place for Lao.
“We anticipated this but they cannot corrupt Byron and the governor. CPDRC is still the safest place and that is always the stand of PDEA,” Marquez said.
PDEA is conducting its own investigation in coordination with CPDRC. (MBG/JST)
(December 27, 2005 issue)
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